


Please Don't Go

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (Loki loves Tony), Alcoholism, Bonds, Clint Is a Good Bro, Communicating through dreams, Fake Character Death, Freya loves both of her sons, Imprisonment, Loki tolerates Tony, M/M, Magic, PTSD, Post-Avengers (2012), Self-Esteem Issues, Thor just wants everyone to be happy, Thor loves Loki, Thor: The Dark World happens at some point during this, Torture, but low key, i may have messed with it a little bit, i never watched iron man 3 but technically it came out before thor 2, so we'll just pretend that nothing in that movie was relevant, unspecified timeline i suppose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 23:26:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18398492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: After the events of the first Avengers movie, Loki tries to get out of prison by claiming to have created a bond with Tony, which would require them to be physically near each other to avoid great pain or death. Well, the bond is real, and the dreams Tony is having about Loki are real, and the two of them are stuck with each other until they can figure out how to get rid of it. But that leaves them plenty of time to get closer.





	Please Don't Go

_He could hear everything, but didn’t dare to open his eyes. There was a small snort, and then a finger abruptly poked him right in the belly. Tony couldn’t contain himself then, and jerked upright, letting out a breathless laugh, and staring at Loki with wide eyes. “Uh-”_

_“Don’t bother to apologize. I suspected from the start that a mere mortal would not be capable of keeping up with me.”_

_Loki started to get up, and Tony scrambled forward into an awkward kneeling position so that he could grab the Asgardian’s sleeve before he teleported away. “Wait, don’t go, I’ll do better, I swear-”_

_Loki looked at Tony with one eyebrow raised, and Tony’s face flushed red as he realized just how pathetic he must look at the moment. He let go, and sank back so that he was sitting on his butt. Loki rolled his eyes. “I was not planning on leaving just yet, Stark. You and I still have a great deal of unfinished business.”_

_Tony nodded. “Right, of course.”_

_Loki leaned over so that he could grab hold of Tony’s chin, and tip his head back so that he was forced to meet with Loki’s piercing eyes. “This is your dream, Stark. I would not leave unless that is what you wished me to do.”_

,,,

Tony’s eyes snapped open and he let out a small gasp as he returned to being awake. What he hell was that? He reached up to rub at his eyes as he tried to wake up more fully. This was definitely not the time he’d had some kind of dirty dream about him and Loki, and they seemed to be increasing in frequency lately. Tony just wanted them to stop already. 

He had no idea why his subconscious seemed so down with the idea of him and a villain boning, but he really wished that there was an off switch to this. And it’s not like he could talk to anyone about it, because they’d be so busy judging him for the contents of the dreams that they’d forget to help him figure out why they were happening in the first place.

Tony groaned, and threw back his blankets so he could go take a cold shower. Once he felt clean, and less affected by his dream, he headed down to the workshop. There was nothing better for getting rid of unwanted sexual frustration than engineering. Well, most people would probably disagree, but personally, Tony thought that he’d done some of his best work while frustrated.

He ended up losing track of time down there, just like he always did, when Jarvis told him that he had a visitor. Tony turned around in the swivel chair he was sitting in, and saw Thor peering through the glass doors at him. “Let him in, J.” As soon as the doors started to open, Thor was marching in, and Tony gave the blonde a big grin. “Hey Point Break! How was your vacation to home? And did you bring me any presents?”

Thor shook his head. “I am sorry, Friend Tony, but I have no gifts for you at this time. And my vacation was well, up until the end.” Tony tilted his head, waiting for Thor to continue. “My brother claims that we cannot leave him locked up any longer, or it will be at the risk of your health. He says that when you two interacted during the invasion, he created a bond between the two of you as an insurance.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows as his mind instantly went to the dreams he’d been having. “What exactly do you mean by a bond? What would that even entail? And why would it affect my health?”

Thor sighed. “The outward signs of a bond can be different in each case, but more common ones are being able to get a general sense of the other person’s current emotions, feeling like you want to spend more time with the other person, and things of that nature. The stronger a bond is, the more affects there are. There have been cases of people with no magical training suddenly having a complete understanding of magic, or being able to appear at the other person’s side in times of great need, or being able to communicate just within their minds.” 

Tony tilted his head. “Some of those sound pretty useful.” Not that he’d want to strengthen a bond of any kind with Loki of all people, but it was interesting to know that apparently that kind of thing was possible. “So why would any of that be considered dangerous?”

There was a troubled look on Thor’s face, and he took a few moments before actually responding. “If a bond is put in place, but the people connected are too far apart, they will experience a great deal of pain. Someone with the constitution of an Asgardian or a-” he hesitated before continuing. “-or a Jotun would suffer, but with enough time spent apart, the bond would eventually break and both parties would go on their way. However, because you are Midgardian, you are not of one of the long-lived races, and your body is much weaker. It is rare for bonds to be placed with a Midgardian so there is no way to know an exact timeline, but I fear that because it has already been several months, you do not have much longer until the pain begins. And I fear that even if you are able to survive the pain, the breaking of the bond would be enough to kill you.”

Tony gulped as he stared up at Thor. This was definitely not the kind of news he’d been expecting to hear, well, ever. “He could be lying, right?” Something told Tony that it wasn’t a lie, though. Or maybe he just wanted to be able to blame a bond for his dreams instead of accepting that for some reason, he was apparently attracted to Loki.  
Thor nodded once. “Aye, it is possible that it is a lie meant to set him free so that he can go on the run. Which is why I’m to bring you to Asgard, so that we can know for sure what the truth of the matter is.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Say this bond is really there. What’s to stop your dad from just chucking me in the cell with Loki so that there’s no problems? Or hell, even just letting me die when the bond breaks. He has no reason to care about what happens to me.”

“I will not let that happen,” Thor said in a firm voice. “My father listens to me, and he will know that you are to be returned to Midgard no matter what.”

That seemed a little difficult to believe, but it’s not like Tony had any other choices at the moment. So he just let out little sigh, and closed his eyes for a moment. “So when are we taking this field trip.”

“As soon as possible. I would not wish undue pain upon you or my brother.”

Tony nodded. “Give me an hour, and I’ll meet you on the common floor, okay?” He waited a moment to get Thor’s agreement, and then practically pushed the man out of the ‘shop. Tony took a couple of minutes to save and close everything he’d been in the middle of, and then went up to the penthouse to change into nicer clothes. It’s not that he didn’t trust Thor to keep him safe, but he did think it would be better if he could at least make a good first impression with Odin.

There was no one besides Thor to be seen when Tony got to the common floor, and he let Thor lead him outside, and to a small abandoned parking lot a few blocks away from the tower. Thor insisted that Tony hold tightly to him so that he wouldn’t get lost. Then he closed his eyes. It felt like his insides were being tugged out of him, but it all only lasted a couple of seconds before all the noises of the New York street had disappeared.

Tony cracked his eyes open, and while he felt a bit nauseous, he was relieved to find that vomiting didn’t seem to be what his body was in the mood for at the moment. Because that definitely wouldn’t make a good impression with Odin. 

They were standing in what looked like some kind of bronze gazebo, and Tony couldn’t help looking around with wide eyes. He doubted that it was very often any humans were allowed here, and his mind was already racing to try and understand everything, including the trip they’d just taken in an amount of time that shouldn’t be possible.

He barely paid Thor any attention, though it meant that the other man had to occasionally put his hand on Tony’s shoulder and steer him back into the correct direction. They eventually reached the palace, and Tony had to admit that these Asgardians definitely knew a thing or two about architecture. It was so different from anything Tony had ever seen before, and there was no denying just how beautiful it was. 

Thor led Tony along several large hallways, where each person they passed either stopped to stare at Tony unashamedly, or let their eyes move over him as though he wasn’t even there. It was just a bit unsettling, though he supposed that he couldn’t blame them. He’d probably stare at an alien too, if he wasn’t already so used to seeing them around. “Wait here,” Thor said softly. “I will inform my father that we have arrived.” 

Then he went in through the double doors that had a guard standing on either side of them. Tony put on his PR face, and didn’t fidget at all the entire time he waited. He pretended that it was like any other time where there were cameras pointed at him, and he could not show weakness.

When Thor returned, he had a slightly disappointed look on his face before he wiped it away. “The Allfather has said that I may escort you to the cells myself. If you feel uncomfortable at any time while we are down there, we can leave.”

As he followed Thor further down the hallway, Tony glanced down at what he was wearing. He was pretty sure that Loki wouldn’t be impressed by a nice suit. “So how will we know if this bond thing is real or not?”

One of Thor’s steps was a bit of a stumble forward, though he quickly caught himself, and then peered over his shoulder to give Tony an apologetic look. Unfortunately, there is only one way to know for sure even with a healer being able to look into your mind.” Thor quickly explained why that was before Tony could ask. “Your own mind would be unguarded and easy to enter, but if the other end of the connection is in Loki’s mind, which is always kept shielded, then it will be impossible to see.”

Tony sighed. “Of course things can never just be easy when it comes to my life. So what’s the way we figure it out, then?”

“You must make physical contact with my brother while a healer is looking into your mind. The first moment of contact after a while spent apart would make the bond flair brightly enough for the healer to spot it, if it is there.”

Tony came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hallway. “I’m sorry, but what? Are you actually saying that you think I should just walk into a cage with a homicidal maniac so that we can hold hands?”

Thor quickly shook his head. “Of course not! I would not put you at any risk, even if I don’t believe that my brother truly wishes to cause you any harm. My mother will be present, along with the healer. She will be able to create a small space in the cell, just large enough for my brother to put his hand through. You only need touch skin to skin for a moment.”

Tony sighed, and continued walking forward. Thor continued as well, which was good since Tony didn’t actually have any clue where they were going. “So of course we’re all hoping that Loki just pulled this bond story out of his ass to save himself, but on the off chance that it’s actually real, what are we going to do about it? You already said that we won’t be able to spend too much time apart before that painful stuff starts, and I’d really like to avoid that if possible.”

Thor shrugged one shoulder. “I wish that I could provide you with more answers, my friend, but unfortunately I do not know what the solution would be. Let us first determine whether or not the bond is real before we start worrying about the future.”

They went down a long set of stairs, and then down another couple of corridors before emerging into a long room. There were several guards placed around the room, as well as two women standing in front of what looked like a glass box with no openings anywhere that Tony could see. 

Loki was inside the box, looking tired and pale compared to the last time Tony had seen him. He was standing near the front, and his voice seemed to come through perfectly despite there being no apparent places for the sound to travel through. “You brought me a guest? How delightful.” His eyes seemed to drill right into Tony, and Tony shivered as he was reminded of the many dreams he’d had starring Loki.

The older of the two women gave Loki a stern look before turning to face Thor and Tony. “Ah, you are both here now. I would like to get started as soon as possible-”

“I will not cooperate so long as the prince remains in the room.”

Thor didn’t even try to argue. He just dipped his head once in a light boy, and then turned to go back the way they’d came. “I will see you once you are ready to return home,” he told Tony in a soft voice before he left.

Well Tony had faced his company’s board and shareholders while they were in a bad mood, so surely being stuck alone with a bunch of magical, near-immortal aliens wasn’t going to be very difficult at all. He took a few steps closer to the cell, though still left several feet between him and it. The woman gave him a small smile. “Ah, you must be Anthony Stark of Midgard. My eldest has spoken highly of you. I am Queen Freya. This is Healer Amira, and you have already met my other son, Loki. Thor has already explained to you why you are here, yes?” Tony nodded, and Freya’s smile grew slightly. “Excellent.”

She walked over to the glass to press her hand against the surface, and a small hole appeared. Loki rolled his eyes as he stuck his hand through it, and it immediately shrank around his wrist so that he would not be able to pull away. Tony was instructed to stand right in front of the cell, but to not make contact yet.

Amira stood behind Tony, and spoke in a hushed voice. “This will not hurt at all, I promise. I am merely going to be skimming the surface of your mind, not interfering with anything that I see there. Please remain as still as possible. When it is the right time to raise your arm, I will let you know.” Then she held her hands on either side of his head, though she didn’t actually touch him. 

Tony wasn’t sure quite what to expect, but as far as he could tell, nothing was happening. Then, after a few more seconds passed, he felt almost like there was something humming in the back of his mind. Like a tune he couldn’t get out of his head, but couldn’t remember the words to. It was very bizarre to say the least. 

Loki smirked at whatever expression was showing on Tony’s face. “You don’t seem to be at all frightened. Perhaps you’ve already discovered what draws the bonded pair together before the pain begins?”

Freya must have sent Loki another Look ™ because he shut his mouth, though he still looked rather amused with himself. Then Amira spoke again. “You may touch now.”

Tony raised his hand, and took a deep breath before extending his arm just enough to brush his fingers against Loki’s. The hot jolt that was sent through him felt like the many times that Tony had accidentally electrocuted himself while working, but somehow even more intense. He knew that his eyes had to be wide with shock.

Once the electric feeling faded somewhat, it felt more like a pleasant warmth coursing through Tony’s body, and he wasn’t very interested in pulling away from the source. When he looked up, he saw a similar look of amazement on Loki’s face. But then Amira pulled him back a step so that the connection was broken, and Tony blinked a few times, suddenly feeling embarrassed. It was all the bond’s fault, not his, but even so, he couldn’t believe that he’d just felt that way about an enemy.

He turned around so that he wouldn’t have to look at Loki anymore, and saw that Freya was giving Amira a long look. The healer reached down to brush at her skirt before speaking. “There is no doubt of the existence of a bond between them.” The awe in her voice was quite obvious as she spoke. “I’ve never seen one so strong, at least not while still so young. Bonded pairs who have been together for hundreds of years might match it, but for two who barely even know each other…” she trailed off, unable to hide any of her amazement. “Whatever the motivations were for creating such a thing, my Lady, I can assure you that severing this bond would quite possibly kill both of them.”

Freya nodded once. “I see. Thank you, Amira. Why don’t you go get some rest, now?” The healer recognized the dismissal in the queen’s voice, and she offered a shallow bow before hurrying off. Then Freya turned her attention to her son. “Why did you create this bond?”

Loki shrugged. The way he’d been looking at Tony just a minute ago had been erased completely, replaced with an expression of indifference. “Like I said before, it was insurance. You cannot keep me locked up here if you don’t wish to have Stark’s blood on your hands.”

“The blood would not be on my hands,” Freya said mildly. Then she turned to Tony. “This is your life at stake, as well as Loki’s. I have heard from Thor that you are a clever little thing. So tell me what solution you can see to this dilemma. For Loki’s crimes, his punishment is imprisonment. Releasing him after so short a time, especially back to Midgard, would be quite unacceptable. And I am aware that you have no wish to stay here.”

Tony bit his lip as he thought about it for a moment. “Well, Thor is usually on Earth, but has a way of traveling back and forth whenever he needs to, right? It’s already been almost six months since this bond was made, and the pain hasn’t started yet. So maybe you leave Loki in there, and I stay on Earth where my whole life is, and every six months or so, I could catch a ride here and spend a few hours with Loki?”

Freya looked at him thoughtfully. “Perhaps that could work. Though if your bond is as strong as Amira says, then it is more likely you will need to spend several days with my son each time you visit, if you are going to leave so much time in between. But I’m sure that that is not much to ask compared to staying on Asgard for the rest of your natural life.” She pressed her hand against the glass so that the hole could grow wider again. 

Instead of retracting his hand, Loki’s arm shot forward to grab Tony by the front of the shirt and drag him closer to the glass, forcing Tony to stand up on his tiptoes because of the way the cell was raised up above ground level. “If you are not to be my ticket out of here, then what good are you?” he snarled. 

Tony pressed both of his palms flat against the glass wall to stop himself from being pulled closer, though he was under no illusion that he was actually strong enough to stop Loki from bashing his head in if that’s what he wanted to do. “This is your fault,” Tony reminded him. “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone? I’d rather have the pain Thor mentioned than those stupid dreams.” He kept his face neutral, even though he could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest. 

Loki blinked a couple of times, and then let go of Tony as quickly as he had grabbed him, pulling his arm back into the cell so that the hole could seal itself shut. Tony settled back down flat on his feet, and tried to adjust his shirt, though he was pretty sure that Loki had ruined it already. Pepper was going to kill him. This one had been a gift from her at some point. Or maybe that was the blue version of this? Well, either way he was a bit miffed to have his shirt ruined like that, though he didn’t think that there was actually anything he could do about it.

He glanced over to give Freya a somewhat accusing look, since she hadn’t tried to interfere or get Loki to let go of him. She was already looking at Tony, an unreadable expression on her face. Tony shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “So that’s a ‘yes’ to my plan, then?”

Freya nodded once. “Yes, however there is one more thing that I would like to add. During the time you are not with my son, I would like you to exchange letters. Perhaps one a month should suffice, unless either of you wanted to increase the frequency.”

Tony had no idea why Freya would want him to do something like that, but it was an easy enough thing to agree to, and he just wanted to get things figured out so that he could head back home as soon as possible. “Sure, sounds fun.” He could think of a few insults to toss Loki’s way, but decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea when in the presence of Loki’s mom, who was also the queen here.

Loki apparently had no such restraint when it came to holding his tongue. “I have no reason to exchange correspondence with him.”

Freya hummed under her breath for a moment before responding. “If you agree to keep in touch with Anthony, then during his visits, I will allow them to take place elsewhere than the prison.”

“Odin would never allow it,” Loki responded immediately.

Freya straightened her back, and gave her son a haughty look. “He will allow it.”

“Fine,” Loki bit out. “Though I’m sure you only made such an offer because you don’t think that it would be fitting to keep a guest down here for days at a time.”

With the details worked out, Freya dismissed Tony, and he backtracked until he came across Thor. They returned to the same bronze gazebo that they’d started in, and soon enough, they were back at the parking lot near the tower. It was amazing that none of the passing pedestrians seemed to take any notice of them appearing out of nowhere, and leaving a strange pattern etched into the pavement. 

They went back to the tower, and Tony changed into more comfortable clothes before heading to bed. He wasn’t sure if it was dealing with Loki, or just a side effect of their method of travel, but either way he felt tired, which meant that he needed to get some sleep. He was sure that Jarvis would be sarcastically clapping at the sight of what he deemed to be good behavior, if he had any hands to clap with.

,,,

_Tony entered his bedroom, and saw Loki lounging back on the bed as if it was his. His still booted feet were crossed at the ankle, and he had his head leaning back against his arms. Tony let out a loud sigh. “So I guess that means it’s time for us to see each other again? Ugh, I am not looking forward to that. And you know what? It’s really not fair, because it’s only been like a month.”_

_The mischievous smirk on Loki’s face disappeared, and he suddenly leaned forward. “What did you just say?”_

_Tony sank down onto the other side of the bed and bent forward to take off his shoes. “I don’t know why I should have to repeat myself, since you’re just a figment of my imagination, but, you know how this works. When the dreams start to happen more often, it means we need to see each other. I wish that there was a more consistent way of keeping track of when it would be-”_

_Loki reached out to snatch Tony by the wrist, and squeezed tightly. “I am not a dream,” he growled out. “You are.”_

_Tony laughed. “Thanks, but I am really not feeling up to having a sexy dream right now. Since you’re not real, it shouldn’t bother you too much if I just take a nap, right?”_

_“I must be going insane,” Loki muttered. “Trying to argue with a dream. But I suspect that this is not the same as the dreams either of us have grown used to. I believe that somehow, both of us are not dreaming right now. Or at least not in the usual way. We are both quite aware of the fact that we are asleep.”_

_Tony frowned as he thought about it. “Huh.” Then he scrambled to his feet, and threw one of his shoes at Loki’s chest. “Pervert! You thought that this wasn’t real, and you were just going to wait in here to do- to do whatever?”_

_Loki scoffed. “Don’t act so offended. You made it quite clear that you have had plenty of dreams about me. If I am a pervert, then you are as well, though I think we would both prefer to be of the understanding that neither of us are. Now let’s try and figure out why this is happening. I have never heard of the effects of bonds shifting so rapidly. As strong as our bond is, it also appears to be somewhat volatile, as if trying to force us together with even more effort than most bonds would use.”_

_“This is all your fault. You’re the one who did this to me, so why don’t you figure out how the hell to undo it?”_

_Loki was silent for a long moment before responding. “I didn’t do it,” he said quietly. “The bond formed between us without consent from either party. I didn’t think it was relevant until the dreams started, and then I hoped that it would be a way out of my cage.” He gave Tony a deadly serious look. “I have done as much research as I possibly could from within my confinement, and I have not found even a single mention of any other time a bond formed on its own.”_

_Tony gulped. “So what does that even mean for us?”_

_Loki shrugged. “I do not know.”_

,,,

This wasn’t the first time in his life that Tony woke up feeling like he was totally screwed, but it was definitely the first time in a while since the feeling about it had been quite this bad, and he was a little pissed off. Usually when he was totally screwed, it was because of some dumb thing or another that he’d done. But in this case, he hadn’t done anything, and apparently neither had Loki, though he wasn’t sure that the self-proclaimed god of lies could necessarily be trusted about such important matters.

“J, is Thor in the building?”

“He is currently asleep on his floor, Sir. Would you like me to wake him?”

Tony thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “No, it’s fine.” It wasn’t like this was an emergency. And besides, now that he really thought about it, trying to explain everything to Thor would be rather awkward, considering he would have to mention having had dirty dreams about Thor’s brother. Yeah, it was probably best to not mention anything. He could just say that he needed to see Loki in person, and Thor would bring him to Asgard.

Since he was quite certain that he would not be able to get back to sleep, Tony groaned and got up to get ready for the day. He went to the kitchen to make himself some coffee, and then to the workshop.

Jarvis let him know once Thor was finally awake and finished eating breakfast, and then Tony went to find him. “Hey, I know you probably have your own stuff going on, but do you think that you could bring me to Asgard?”

Thor gave him a worried look. “Are you feeling in pain, Friend Tony? I thought that you would have much more time.”

Tony reached up to scratch at the back of his neck. “Yeah, so did I. But there’s something that I really need to talk to Loki about. It doesn’t have to be today, but sometime soon, if it’s possible.”

“If you are free today, then I shall bring you today,” Thor declared. “That way I can visit the Lady Jane when we return without the visit being interrupted in the middle.”

Guilt swirled through Tony’s stomach, but he didn’t try to protest, because he knew that Thor would just insist that he would do whatever was necessary to make sure that Tony was okay. 

Thor explained somewhat apologetically that without advanced notice, Loki couldn’t be moved to the guest chambers that Freya had made and warded for he and Tony to share. Tony waved aside the apology, and then headed down to the prison while Thor waited upstairs. Tony quickly walked up to the glass cell, and looked over at where Loki was sitting on his cot, flipping through a book. “Was last night real, or was it just a dream?”

Loki slowly looked up from his book. “Ah. So it was real, then,” he said in an almost bored tone. “Good to know.” Then he tipped his head back down to continue reading.

Tony clenched his jaw, and slapped one hand against the glass wall. “Don’t tell me that you don’t want to try and figure this out.”

Loki let out a long sigh, as if Tony’s presence was some great inconvenience to him. “And why would I want to do that? When you don’t make such impromptu visits, I’ll get to spend time in a real room for a few days. It’s not much, but it’s at least something to look forward to.”

“Oh, bullshit. I may not be an expert on all things Loki, but I know that you care about learning. Why else would you have done so much research into bonds? You don’t understand our bond, so you want to know more about it. And there’s no way you can convince me that you’re satisfied moving to a slightly nicer prison every so often. That’s not satisfactory to you at all.”

Loki finally snapped his book shut, and set it aside before standing up and prowling over to the wall Tony was standing in front of. Despite the small space, he managed to take his time crossing it. “Don’t presume to think that you know me, Stark. Your entire life will pass in a mere blink of my eye, and you cannot possibly comprehend even a fraction of who I am, even if you dedicated your entire life to it. No matter how ‘clever’ you might be.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Tell me honestly that you’re fine with staying locked up for the rest of your life, and I’ll leave right now. I’m sure it’s not too horrible for you to be having such fun dreams about a mere mortal such as myself. Though I suppose it must suck for you to know that that’s the most action you’re going to get for the next couple hundred years.”

They both glared at each other for a minute before Loki finally spoke. “And what is it you would have me do, Stark? I cannot mount an escape, and even if I did somehow manage to get away, I would not be able to hide on Midgard with you because that is the first place anyone would look. The bond is trying hard to get us together by showing us how fulfilling certain aspects of a relationship might be. But when that fails to work, the pain will set in. And you heard the healer- separating for too long could very well kill the both of us when the bond shatters. I am imprisoned by far more than the walls of my cell, Stark.”

Tony glanced around the room, trying to see if there were security cameras anywhere. If there were, they weren’t visible to him, and he decided to take a small risk. He spoke in a whisper, and tried to move his mouth as little as possible. “Maybe you’re thinking of the wrong kind of escape.”

Loki tilted his head slightly to the side. “Oh? And what would be the right one?”

It’s not like Tony wanted to put so much thought into potentially figuring out how to break Loki free, but he couldn’t avoid the fact that his thoughts naturally strayed to the trickster whenever he got too distracted. It was annoying to say the least, but the one upside had been figuring out a way to approach Loki’s problem like it was just another puzzle. “Maybe if you ask nicely, I’ll tell you.”

Did it make Tony a bad person that he took such great satisfaction in the look on Loki’s face? Maybe. Did that mean he regretted it? Not at all. Instead, he just waited for Loki to ask nicely. It was like pulling teeth to get what he wanted, but it was worth it to hear Loki say ‘please’, even if it was obvious that he didn’t actually mean it.

,,,

“Are you sure?” Thor asked, looking slightly concerned.

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure big guy. I think I’ll feel better if I spend a bit more time with Loki. And if we’re stuck being bonded forever, then it couldn’t hurt for us to try and get to know each other a little bit better, right?”

Thor grinned, and gave Tony a forceful pat on the back. “That is certainly a noble goal! You and my brother are quite similar in many regards, so I hope that you will be able to get past your differences.”

“He threw me out a window,” Tony grumbled. Then he looked at Thor curiously. “Why are you advocating so hard for him after everything he did? To you, to Midgard, to everyone.”

Thor shrugged. “He is my brother,” he said simply. And maybe to Thor it really was as easy as that. Tony almost envied the way Thor was able to look at the world. “Please be careful with him. If he does let you close, then do not make the mistake of thinking that that is some small thing.”

“I won’t,” Tony promised. Of course, he had no intentions of actually getting closer to Loki, but he could appreciate that Thor felt protective of his younger brother. It was actually kind of cute, in a weird way. “Tell the other Avengers not to worry. I should be back soon enough, before they even have the chance to miss me.”

Then Thor was gone, and it hit Tony just how stupid of an idea it was to stay behind on an alien planet all by himself, where he had no allies that he could really trust in. He just had to hope that none of the Asgardians would suddenly decide that they had a problem with his presence here.

The first thing Tony decided to do was just wander around the city. It vaguely resembled paintings of medieval Midgardian cities, but at the same time was very different than any of those. It was a strange combination of feeling too old and too new, and yet it all seemed to work rather well.

After getting his fill of exploration, Tony decided that it was time to head back to the palace. He didn’t exactly have free reign in there. He could go to the guest chambers that had been set aside for him, and to the section of the prison with Loki in it, and the dining hall, and the royal library, but nowhere other than that without an escort. Which was fine with Tony, because he didn’t see why he’d need to be able to go everywhere within the palace.

He returned to the prison, and quickly found Loki’s cell. “So we’re both in agreement that the sooner we do this the better, right?’

Loki nodded. “Obviously.”

“Great. So here’s where we need to begin…”

,,,

Tony had insisted that he be waiting inconspicuously at the tower while the escape went down. He wouldn’t want to risk getting trapped in Asgard if someone accused him of being involved in Loki’s plans. It wouldn’t be too difficult of a conclusion to come to, all things considered, which is why Tony preferred to be far away. It’s not like he could actually do anything to help anyways. Brining the Iron Man suit to Asgard would be seen as an act of aggression, and without it, he was just a squishy human. 

He hadn’t thought ahead enough to realize the one fatal flaw with this, which was that he would get bored out of his mind waiting for when everything went down, so Tony retreated to his workshop to get lost in some project or another. It was easier to do that than to sit around worrying. 

Maybe time passed differently between Midgard and Asgard. Tony had never thought to ask Thor or Loki if that was a thing. Then again, it’s not like he and Loki had set a specific date for the escape, just a general timeline of what needed to happen for them to get it all done. 

“Sir, there is an intruder in the tower,” Jarvis suddenly interrupted.

Tony looked up immediately, and saw Loki standing in a casual pose, back up against the wall, one leg bent so that his foot was flat against the wall as well, and arms crossed over his chest. “Interesting set up you have here, Stark. I’ll admit, it looks much more impressive than the rooms I toured in my last visit of this place.”

Tony rolled his eyes, and grabbed a rag to wipe some grease off of his hands before walking over to Loki. “So I take it that everything went successfully, then?”

Loki shrugged, as if he couldn’t care less about how it had all played out. “It turns out that our timing was quite impeccable. Asgard ended up being invaded thanks to Thor’s little girlfriend, and I found myself with the perfect opportunity to fake my death and drop off the map. Of course that means I will need to disguise myself whenever Thor is around. He may be dumb as a rock, but even he would figure out that I’m still alive if he were to see me standing right in front of him.”

“Hey, don’t be so mean, I like Thor.”

Loki sighed. “Of course you do. Is there anyone in the nine who does not like that oaf?” He stood up straight, and looked Tony right in the eyes. “Of course, for the sake of this insufferable bond, I shall return here every few days or so. That should be enough to satisfy it, even with the moved up timetable that it has given us. Don’t bother trying to contact me if the effects take place sooner, because I would already be quite aware of that myself. I will be quite busy when I am not here, since I found myself a new position of employment, so don’t bother me at all unless it’s an absolute emergency. Now show me to my rooms.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Do you really need rooms if you’re only going to be popping by for a few minutes a couple of times a week?”

The look Loki gave him made his answer to that quite clear. Tony reminded his bots not to touch anything while he was gone, and then personally escorted Loki to a floor that hadn’t already been occupied by one of the other Avengers. “Just ask Jarvis if there’s anything you need. I’ll be down in the ‘shop again.”

Loki grabbed Tony’s arm before he could go. “Are you not frightened to leave me on my own in your world?”

Tony pulled his arm free. “Not really. Thor explained to us about how you were just as affected as Clint and the doctor were during the invasion, so you’re not really to blame for all the things that you did. And if you start doing anything too destructive or noticeable around here, then people will notice, and your cover will be blown. So you’re going to behave for your own good.” Then he headed back onto the elevator, surprised to find as he went that he really meant what he said- he wasn’t afraid of Loki or the things that he might do.

,,,

Tony finished blasting away the last few of the giant flower-crown wearing rats that had tried to take over the city by eating people. The Avengers made their way to Shield for their debriefing, and then headed back to the tower. Tony ordered enough pizzas to actually feed all of them, even though Steve and Thor could eat several whole ones just on their own.

As they chatted and laughed and ate and put a Disney movie on (half of them made fun of it, while the other half genuinely enjoyed it. Tony was pretty sure that he was the only one in both camps, though he would never admit to such a thing), the elevator dinged, and an unfamiliar man stepped off.

Jarvis hadn’t given any intruder alert, but the fact that he was in the middle of having a strangely amusing conversation with Clint and Natasha, Tony knew that Jarvis hadn’t been injured or disabled. Which meant that the man walking towards them had permission to be in the tower. But who the hell was it? 

The closer the man got to them, the more the Avengers seemed to become aware of his presence, and then they all began to quiet down as they stared at him, both with curiosity, and the tenseness of a group about to head right into battle. To everyone’s surprise, the man flopped down on the couch next to Tony, and threw an arm around Tony’s shoulder to pull the genius flush to his side. “I grew bored waiting for you to come back,” he drawled. And when he looked at Tony, those bright green eyes were very visible.

Tony’s eyes widened as he realized that this was Loki. He looked around, and the other Avengers seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of what they thought was a random civilian hanging out with them in their free time, but when he didn’t pay much attention to them, they slowly began to relax again. 

The conversations and movie viewing resumed, and Tony hissed into Loki’s ear, “What the hell are you doing? You’re brother is right there!”

Loki chuckled, and squeezed Tony tightly. “Don’t fret about me, Stark. I am more than capable of keeping myself hidden.” He remained for the rest of the movie, and all of the next one, occasionally getting into the conversations of the heroes around them. It was like Loki was a complete stranger or something, acting witty and charming like Tony had never seen before. Then after the credits rolled, he got up and wandered off, back to wherever he spent his time when he wasn’t in the tower.

Once he was gone, Clint got up from where he’d been sitting on the floor, and gave Tony a friendly punch in the shoulder. “Didn’t know that you were dating anyone seriously. Congrats, man. He seems cool. Though I don’t think he introduced himself?”

“Oh, right. That was, um, Liam. We’ve been seeing each other for a while now, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to introduce him to all of you yet.”

Natasha gave him a searching look, but then she eventually wandered off back to her own floor, just like everyone else. Thor was the only one who stuck around, and he was giving Tony an odd look. “May I speak with you in private?”

Tony shrugged, and led Thor up to the penthouse. “What’s up?”

Thor looked much more hesitant than usual, which made Tony feel on edge. “The bond you and my brother shared is said to have been one of the strongest ever made before. Though it was broken through no fault of your own, Loki’s death should have been quite detrimental to you, causing much physical and emotional agony. I understand that you were not in a relationship, but even so, entering into one now, just a few months after my brother’s death, seems like a somewhat hasty decision.”

At the wary tone of Thor’s voice, Tony’s shoulders slumped down in guilt. Thor always kept up his jolly veneer, so it hadn’t really occurred to Tony just how much Thor would have been affected by thinking that his brother was dead. And it also hadn’t occurred to him that the bond would continue causing so many problems for him even now. “I don’t know if I’ve said it yet, but I’m sorry for your loss. I know your relationship with him was complicated, but he was still your brother.” He hesitated, wondering what Loki would think if Tony brought Thor in on the secret. He trusted Thor, but Thor also had a big mouth most of the time. “I think that what’s best for me to is to be able to move on. The bond was never something that me or Loki wanted, and it was definitely…” Tony trailed off as he took a good look at the Asgardian’s face. He’d always had the bad habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve, so Tony had never thought he’d need to look any closer to the man. “Thor, should we both just be honest with each other here?”

Thor gave Tony a somewhat surprised look. “So then you know about my brother’s deception?”

“You know?” Tony asked in return.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Thor spoke first. “With everything I had learned of your bond, I knew that there was no way that you would be unaffected by it suddenly be broken. After I was sure that Asgard was secured, I rushed back here to see you and make sure that you were alright. I expected to find you half mad from the pain, but you were perfectly alright. Not even the slightest effect. So I knew that Loki could not possibly be dead. I didn’t think you were aware of that fact, though.”

There was a sheepish look on Tony’s face. “I may have helped him come up with the idea.”

Instead of looking upset, Thor grinned. “You must have grown at least somewhat close to be plotting together!”

Tony blinked a few times. “You seem weirdly happy that we conspired to break a prisoner out of jail.” 

Thor shrugged. “I always believed that the Allfather’s punishment was too harsh on Loki, when he was not responsible for the things that he did against Midgard. I would have helped him myself if I thought that he would accept such an offer from me. And I would be quite pleased to call you a brother, Anthony Stark. Not a shield-brother, but an actual family member, as you would be if you were to marry Loki.”

Tony laughed. “Uh, there’s a pretty big leap between helping spring someone from jail and wanting to marry them.”

That seemed to slow Thor’s excitement down. “You are right. And it is not helped that you have found relations for another, though I do not hold your need for companionship against you, and I’m sure that Loki would not either.”

Tony blinked a couple of times as he took that in, and then started laughing. He knew that it wasn’t fair to laugh at Thor for not knowing something that had been intentionally kept secret from him, but even so, he couldn’t help thinking of all the times Loki had called his brother a moron. “Sorry, it’s just…’

Thor narrowed his eyes. “I see. This ‘Liam’ of yours is actually Loki?” Tony nodded, not able to get any words out through his laughter. “I should have recognized some of his jokes. But I do not understand, then. You seemed quite comfortable together. So why would you not want to get married?”

The laughter finally died down, and Tony reached up to pat Thor on the shoulder. “Buddy, my longest successful relationship only lasted for two years, and ended with her turning out to have been using me all along. I am definitely not ready for commitment with anybody. And no matter what it looked like out there, Loki and I aren’t even dating.”

There was a knowing look in Thor’s eyes, which was slightly frustrating since there was nothing for him to know. “I understand. Well, thank you for your time. I will see you in the morning.” He left, and Tony went to bed, wondering if there was some way to help repair the relationship between Thor and Loki, all things considered.

,,,

_“We just saw each other today, why are we having a dream together right now?”_

_Loki shrugged, looking unconcerned. “Perhaps the bond is aware that we have not actually begun a relationship, and have only been maintaining a close proximity for the sole purpose of appeasing it.”_

_Tony sank down onto the bed, and then flopped back so that he was staring up at the ceiling, while his feet were still touching the floor. “Isn’t it kinda weird to talk about it like it’s some sentient thing?” When Loki didn’t respond, Tony turned his head to the side to look at the other man’s bored expression. “Why do you hate Thor so much?”_

_That immediately got Loki’s attention. “Why would you ask me that?” Tony shrugged, and then waited patiently. It took a few minutes, but Loki did eventually respond. “He is a fool, and I do not suffer fools.”_

_“He loves you, you know. No matter what bullshit you pull, he keeps on loving you, and believing in you. Why the hell would you ever want to throw something like that away?” He knew that his voice sounded wistful, but he couldn’t help it. There was no one in Tony’s life who he thought would stick by his side no matter what, and always love him._

_Loki looked slightly disgruntled. “It is only another thing that makes him a fool.”_

_Tony sat up to look straight at Loki. “He knows that you’re still alive.”_

_Loki immediately moved forward, pinning Tony back to the bed, a hand wrapped around his throat, though not tightly enough to actually cut off his breathing. Did people even need to breath while dreaming? Tony didn’t really want to find out. “What did you tell him?”_

_“I didn’t tell him anything! He figured it out on his own because he noticed that I wasn’t at all hurt the way I would have been if you’d actually died. Maybe he’s smarter than you give him credit for.”_

_Loki loosened his fingers, though he didn’t actually remove his hand, leaving it as a warm weight against Tony’s neck. “I have surely not underestimated that fool,” he whispered. “He is too predictable to be underestimated.”_

_Tony shrugged. “It’s okay to be wrong sometimes, you know. I get that it’s difficult to admit it when you are, but it’s okay.”_

,,,

Tony had never woken up so suddenly from a dream that wasn’t a hellish nightmare about his past. He gasped for breath, and then reached up to brush his fingers over his neck. He didn’t feel tender or sore at all, which seemed to mean that being injured in a dream, even one of those weird shared dreams, would not have any real life consequences. Tony didn’t know why he’d thought that it might. 

He went to the bar for a quick drink before heading downstairs to the communal kitchen to get some coffee. Natasha was already there, drinking from Tony’s favorite mug, and Tony had to wonder if the woman ever actually slept, or if she was secretly an immortal god species. Tony wouldn’t be surprised at all if that were the case. 

She raised one eyebrow as she took a long sip, and then set the mug down on the counter. “You brought someone into your home, and allowed them access to the Avengers, and yet had never mentioned his name to us once?”

“Sorry if you felt awkward about having a stranger in your space. That’s not what I wanted to happen.”

Natasha blinked once. “It was not awkward. I am more concerned that this man was not here by your invitation.”

“No, it’s cool, I told him he could be here. I mean, not specifically for that hang out, and I wished he’d asked me first, but everyone seemed to get along with him pretty well.”

Natasha continued to stare at him, and Tony felt the urge to look away like a scolded child. “He had quite nice eyes.”

Tony stared at her, wondering if she’d figured out that it was Loki. Should he just let the entire team in on it so that Loki wouldn’t have to be disguised in the tower? Though that would definitely piss Loki off. Would that really be such a bad thing, though? Kicking Tony out of the dream like he had was pretty rude. Then he realized that Natasha was waiting for him to say something, and he cleared his throat. “Right, yeah, I guess I never really noticed.” He tried to reach past Natasha to grab the mug she’d put down, but she gently swatted his hand away, and he had to grab a new mug out of the cupboard. “Anyways, this was a fun chat and all, but I’ve got things to do, places to be.” He quickly poured himself some coffee, and then hurried out of there.

,,,

Tony returned from doing a few test laps around the city in the latest version of his Iron Man suit, and saw that Clint was resting on a lounge chair on the rooftop, clearly waiting for him. Tony timed how long it took for the suit to be dismantled, and made a mental note to speed that up some more, and then walked over to the archer. “Did we have a date I forgot about? I’m terribly sorry, honey boo.”

Clint grinned as he hopped up to his feet. “Oh it’s alright. There’s so many other strong men in this tower to spend time with while I waited.”

Tony gasped. “No! I thought that what we had was special!”

Then they both devolved into loud cackles that lasted until both of them were out of breath. When they were able to calm down some more, Tony looked at Clint curiously, and Clint sighed. “It’s about your boyfriend. This is probably going to sound weird, but have you noticed that he’s like freakishly similar to Loki?”

Tony threw his hands up in the air. “Alright! I give up! I’m calling a team meeting right now!”

,,,

The Avengers all stared at Tony, waiting for him to explain why he’d just called them into a meeting. He took a few deep breaths, and tried to figure out the best way to word everything so that no one would be shot or maimed by the end of the day. “Okay, so here’s the deal. Back when Loki turned down my offer of a drink, I guess he’s such a masochist for rejection that it just summoned up intense feelings and he instantly fell madly in love with me and-”

Thor chuckled. “My brother and Tony have bonded. I find it to be a most joyous pairing, considering how fond I am of the both of them.”

“Yeah, that. And no, we’re not dating, or screwing, or even holding hands. We just have to spend time in each other’s company to avoid dying a horrible agonizing death. Because apparently the universe hates me. Anyways, Loki was in disguise last night, but as long as all of you promise not to report that he’s still alive, and especially not that he’s still alive and hanging out in the tower, we can all go on with our lives with no issues.”

Bruce nodded once. “This ‘bond’ sounds quite fascinating. I figured that there was something going on, but I hadn’t imagined anything like this. If you ever have the time, maybe you and Loki could let me take a look at the both of you? I’d be interested in figuring out how this bond works.”

Great, so even Bruce had known. Before Tony could get too disheartened, he realized that Steve was staring at Bruce with wide eyes. “You suspected something like this? How? Why does nobody else seemed surprised by this?” And Tony just couldn’t help laughing at Cap.

,,,

Okay, so now all he needed to do was screw the back panel back on, and… dammit, where the hell was the screwdriver? He could have sworn that he’d been holding it just a few minutes ago. “J, when’s the last time I had the 3/32 by 2?”

“About three hours ago, Sir.”

Tony swore under his breath, but then suddenly a smug voice was talking to him, and a screwdriver was being placed on his palm. “Looking for this, Stark?” 

Tony sighed, but wrapped his hand around the tool and turned back to Dum-E so that he could finish up what he’d been doing. With the panel secured, Tony powered the bot back on, and grinned at the excited beeping he was met with. “Yeah, yeah, I love you too,” Tony told it fondly.

He stood up straight, and saw that Loki was looking around the ‘shop curiously. “You created everything in here, correct? Including your invisible servant and your semi-defective robots?” 

Tony nodded proudly. “Yup.” He saw that Loki almost looked impressed for a moment, though he quickly wiped that expression away. “So why are you here? I haven’t been having more dreams than usual.”

Loki narrowed his eyes, and suddenly there was a piece of paper in his hands, which he unrolled, and cleared his throat once before reading aloud. “‘Dear brother, I know of the trick that you have played on all of Asgard by making everyone think that you died in a noble sacrifice. I do not believe it to be any less noble of an action just because you did not perish as a result of it. I miss you, and fighting side by side with you, and would like to meet with you again at your earliest convenience. Thor. P.S. good luck with Tony, I’m rooting for you.’” Then he let the paper disappear again and gave Tony a long look. “You said that you did not tell him about me. Will you swear that that that is the truth?”

Tony nodded. “I swear it. The only person I really told was Steve.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed even further, until they were just thin slits that seemed like they’d be impossible to actually see through. “And just why would you do that?”

Tony shrugged. “All the other Avengers had already figured it out. And that entirely on you. Whatever they may have thought before, it was you being there on movie night that gave it all away to them. Steve’s just a bit slow sometimes, so he didn’t pick up on it. Plus he was raised in a time when gay relationships were not openly flaunted, so he was mostly looking away from us all night.”

They both stood there, and Tony was a bit surprised that there was no swell of fury emanating from Loki. Then the trickster laughed, as if it was somehow his goal to never react to anything the way that Tony thought he was going to. “I will make sure that the Avengers cannot talk to anyone who would leak the information to Asgard.”

Tony hesitated for a moment before offering up a suggestion that had been on his mind for a little while now. “You’re good with magic, right? Like your world’s equivalent of me, basically, but with magic. So maybe now that the Avengers all know about you anyways, you might want to think about teaming up with us sometimes?” He quickly hurried on before Loki had a chance to give any protest. “Fighting with a team working towards a common good could be a way to prove to Asgard that you’re not as bad as they think. After you work with us for a while, you could reveal that you’re still alive, and the rest of us would be able to vouch for you because we’d know you better by then, and would have seen you helping us save the world.”

When there was no immediate and vehement rejection of the idea, Tony decided to take that as a good sign. Loki tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “I am rather busy with the job I found for myself, though I suppose it has been long enough now that I could let the original holder of it return to the position.”

“What job is it, anyways?”

Loki gave Tony a long look, and then grinned. “King of Asgard, of course.” He laughed when Tony dropped his screwdriver onto his own foot.

,,,

The first time Loki fought with the rest of the Avengers, it was a bit awkward. He’d refused to join them for any of their team training sessions, insisting that he’d basically win every fight for them anyways, and didn’t need to know anything about their tactics or strategies. It had garnered some resentment from the others, but Tony had basically begged them to at least give this idea a chance. He wasn’t even sure why it mattered so much to him, but he got the feeling that if Loki failed to earn his redemption here, he would never think himself capable of getting one.

And Tony knew exactly what that felt like. After he’d first gotten back from Afghanistan, he’d been afraid that he’d never be able to do enough to make up for all the terrible things that he’d done. It had seemed like such an overwhelming task that there were a lot of times he’d stopped and wondered if it wouldn’t be easier to just quit before he even began.

But things seemed to go mostly okay. The communication was a bit thrown off by the addition of another person, especially because Loki refused to follow Steve’s orders in the heat of the battle, feeling absolutely certain that his own plans would be much more effective than anything a ‘puny mortal’ could come up with.

At one point, because Loki had moved to an unsecured position, solely to spite Steve as far as anyone else could tell, he wasn’t covered when a large projectile was launched towards him. He was too busy using magic on a small group of enemies further down the road. Tony rushed forward and shoved Loki out of the way. The projectile clipped Tony’s leg in the process, crushing him through the suit. He grit his teeth, and was grateful for the flying function. Without it, he’d be screwed because there was no way he’d be able to walk on his leg.

Then the battle had ended, rather anticlimactically overall, and they’d all gone to Shield to debrief before finally returning to the tower. Tony went straight down to the ‘shop, because medical wouldn’t do him any good if he was still encased in his suit. Most of it disassembled easily enough, but the leg plates had to be pried off, which only moved around and squished his damaged leg even further.

When he finally freed himself entirely, Tony flopped back onto the ground, not caring that he was lying on a concrete floor. And then suddenly Loki appeared, staring down at him. “You are injured.”

“No shit,” Tony grumbled, though there wasn’t as much bite in his words as there would be normally. “You going to help me get to the infirmary or what?”

Loki crouched down, and gave Tony’s leg a critical look. “That happened when you moved me out of the way. You got injured protecting me. I am much more durable than you, and would have been perfectly fine from that hit.” It wasn’t a question, just a fact, and Loki sounded rather intrigued by it. “Why would you do that?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. Clearly it’s because I’m absolutely insane. Or maybe it’s because Thor said I’d be crippled by pain if you ever died, and that doesn’t sound like an ideal situation to me.”

Loki hmmed, and then scooped Tony up, carefully minding the leg so that it wouldn’t get jostled around too much. Between one blink and the next, they’d gone from the workshop to the infirmary. Tony may not have figured out quite yet how magic worked, but there was no denying the fact that it was really quite useful.

,,,

_“We basically live together full time. We work together, we fight together, we throw pizza off of the balcony to watch it hit the tops of people's’ heads together. But apparently nothing is enough for this stupid bond.” Tony looked over at Loki, waiting for the man to laugh with him._

_But there was a pensive look on Loki’s face, and he didn’t seem to be in the mood to make jokes about their situation. “Have you ever stopped to wonder why our bond was formed?”_

_Tony shrugged. “I assumed it was voodoo magic stuff, and beyond my mortal sense of comprehension, or something like that. Why? Do you have any theories?”_

_“It’s seems impossible to believe that something like this would happen for no reason,” Loki said softly. “Perhaps the Norns wished to put us together.”_

_Tony couldn’t help snorting. “I’m sorry, but do you honestly think that either of us are important enough that the gods of your religion would go through any amount of effort just to do a little bit of matchmaking?”_

_Loki stood up abruptly from the chair he’d been lounging in, and towered over where Tony was sitting on the floor, messing around with a toaster. “You make light of the Norns?”_

_“I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. Personally, I’m not a religious guy, so I just find it a bit difficult to believe that there’s some kind of cosmic dating service trying to put us together.”_

_Loki dropped down to his knees in front of Tony, and reached out to touch the side of his head. “Our bond may not have been asked for, but I don’t think it can be considered stupid. It is quite a beautiful thing.”_

_Tony decided to humor Loki by staying still, and it took a moment, but then he felt like he could see the bond in front of him. It was a brightly glowing golden thread that looped once around Tony, and then stretched out to where it was looped around Loki as well. Tony picked up the thread to hold it up. When he looked much closer, he could see what looked like little silver stars glittering along the thread. And he could feel it thrumming with power,_

_When he really focused, he could feel the occasional pulse of emotion. Right now, it seemed to be sending_ -curiosity, intrigue, awe- _and he realized that those were Loki’s feelings. “This is incredible.”_

_“I know,” Loki said in a soft voice. Tony looked up, face still telegraphing his surprise._

_Tony felt his face flush slightly pink. “So is there really no way to break this thing?”_

_Loki snatched the thread out of Tony’s hands, as if he was afraid Tony was going to try to snap it in half right then and there. “Not that I’m aware of.”_

_“Right.” Suddenly everything felt awkward. “You were able to boot me out of one of these dreams in the past. Can you do that again? I just realized that I need to wake up because I have some errands I need to run.”_

_Loki stared at Tony with those damn eyes of him, but then he nodded once, and-_

,,,

Tony picked his head up, and tilted it to both sides to try and crack his neck. He felt rather stiff from having fallen asleep hunched over on one of his work tables. He groaned as he thought about what he’d seen in his head. It was the first time he’d ever seen the bond as a real, tangible thing. And the fact that it looked so perfect made it even worse when Tony realized that he had to find a way to break it.

There was no way Loki could ever feel truly happy if he was chained to Midgard, to Tony. It was like he’d said before, the cell wasn’t the only thing imprisoning him. Tony was just some random guy who happened to be standing near Loki when the bond decided to happen. As far as he could tell, it had had nothing to do with him, since he had no magic of his own, and hadn’t even known that it was possible to make something like a bond. 

Even if the things Thor had told him a bond could do were true, it wouldn’t be fair, because all of those skills and talents would be coming from Loki’s end. Tony had nothing he could give to Loki that would make keeping the bond even remotely worth it. He rummaged around through one of the cabinets until he found the backup bottle he kept down there. He generally didn’t think that it was a good idea to work while drunk, but he kept an emergency bottle here for a reason. 

Tony took several deep gulps straight from the bottle before heading back to what he’d been working on since he’d fallen asleep. He was vaguely aware of Jarvis saying something to him, but Tony didn’t really care at the moment. 

As he worked, he slipped, and ended up with a small electrical burn on his hand. It was something that had happened to him a million times, even after coming back from Afghanistan, but this was the first time that his breathing became erratic and he suddenly felt like he was right back in that goddamn cave, and he was going to be trapped there forever, and Yinsen was going to die, and all those people were going to die because of Tony, and- 

“You stupid mortal,” Loki said in an almost fond tone. And then everything went black.

,,,

Tony woke up in his own bed, which was pretty much always a good sign. He blinked a few times, and then let out a small startled gasp when he realized that Loki was sitting upright next to him, glasses perched on the tip of his nose as he flipped through a book. “I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Tony croaked out in a rough voice. It was actually a pretty good look on Loki.

Loki closed his book and vanished the glasses. “There’s no need for glasses to read while in a dream. And they were not offered to me in my cell on Asgard.”

“Can’t you just use magic to make your eyes better?”

Loki shrugged, clearly looking already done with the topic. “You have a lot of issues, don’t you, Stark?” It was obviously a rhetorical question, so Tony said nothing. “It’s alright. I’m well aware that I have plenty of issues of my own.” He shifted so that he was sitting criss cross, facing Tony directly. “The first time the bond worked to send emotions through, and all I could feel was hatred. I thought it was towards me at first, because you think it my fault that this bond happened. But when I went to see you, and perhaps yell at you a little bit, it occurred to me that the hatred was probably towards yourself more than anything. So out with it. Stark. What does hating yourself have to do with getting rid of our bond?”

Tony wanted to complain that he was feeling too hungover for this conversation, but surprisingly his head didn’t hurt at all. Probably thanks to Loki’s magic. He sighed, and shifted around awkwardly, not wanting to have to actually talk about his feelings. Starks were made of iron, and iron wasn’t supposed to cry about its problems. But he got the feeling that Loki wasn’t going to leave him alone until he’d gotten some answers.

Tony sighed, and then moved so that he was sitting up, leaning back against the headboard. But Tony was better at deflection than at being honest. “Why do you care, anyways? You want to get rid of the bond too.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “What did I tell you about presuming to know me, Stark? Don’t.”

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise. “You can’t be serious. You can’t actually want to keep a bond, with me of all people!”

“Then maybe you don’t know me that well,” Loki answered calmly. “Admittedly, at first the idea of being bonded to one of the mortals who were responsible for humiliating me and getting me thrown in prison was the most disgusting thing I could imagine. I saw it as nothing more than a way to possibly get myself free. But once I actually started to spend some time with you, as the bond forced us to do, and have found that you are more tolerable than I initially believed.”

“You really know how to compliment a guy,” Tony muttered.

Loki just raised one eyebrow. “I’ve answered your question, so it’s only fair that you answer mine.”

Tony closed his eyes, and nodded once. “I’m not a good person. And I don’t have the excuse of brainwashing that you do. Everything I did was of my own free will. I’m working hard to make up for a lot of the stuff I’ve done, but some of it just can’t be fixed. Like the fact that the people I get close to always get hurt. You’re better off breaking the bond and getting as far away from me as possible.”

“I see,” Loki responded in monotone. “Well then,” and he stood up. Tony looked down at his lap as he prepared for Loki to leave the room. He wasn’t expecting the man to walk around to Tony’s side of the bed and suddenly scoop him up into his arms. “I told you that I would not suffer fools, but apparently I was wrong, because you are far more foolish than most, and yet I find myself most unwilling to leave.”

Tony ended up wrapping his arms around Loki so that he wouldn’t feel like he was about to be dumped down onto the ground. He knew that his face had to be at least a little bit pink. “Oh,” he said dumbly. Loki snickered at the reaction, but there didn’t seem to be anything malicious in the laugh, and Tony wondered if maybe it was possible that he had been wrong.

,,,  
The first time the two of them kissed in front of the other Avengers, after a particularly rough battle, Clint had slapped some money into Natasha’s waiting hand, and told Tony that he should have at least waited another couple of weeks. Thor had a giant grin on his face as he witnessed it all happening. “I am happy for you both.”

Loki dipped his head down once in a small nod. “Thank you… brother.” He looked a bit uncomfortable with using that word, but it seemed to make Thor’s day, and he wouldn’t stop running around the tower to tell everyone how proud he was of his brother. Loki acted like the antics annoyed him, but Tony could feel through the bond just how pleased Loki was.

At the end of the day, Tony and Loki both retreated to the penthouse to get ready for bed. “Goodnight Loki,” Tony whispered before turning off the light and getting into bed. He wasn’t afraid to fall asleep, because he knew that rather than facing nightmares of his many demons, he would just see Loki, and there was nothing in the world that could make him feel more safe.


End file.
